A number of people jumped into the water to save the swimmer at Queenscliff. Photo: Nick Moir

"Everybody has run over in these really big waves trying to pull him out. They couldn't pull him out. Some surfers got in there, and then the lifesavers [sic] saw it ... The surfers and the lifesavers got him with their boards but it took them 10 minutes just to pull him out of this hole."

Moir said the man's colour improved after he was resuscitated on the beach.

The man has been taken to Manly Hospital for treatment. Photo: Nick Moir

Manly Council lifeguard Rhiannon Lougher said lifeguards were on the beach when they noticed people "making a bit of a commotion" near the pool.

She said a number of surfers had jumped into the water and were trying to drag the man off the rocks, and two lifeguards paddled over on rescue boards.

Ms Louhger said the lifeguards pulled the man onto the board and saw he was "blue in the face".

"They put him on his back and performed rescue breaths, then brought him back to shore and reassessed him. During that reassessment they noticed he was breathing, and they got the ambulance there," she said.

"He seems very lucky."

Ms Lougher said the beach was closed at the time because there was a "fairly solid surf going through there".

The man also suffered cuts to his arms and legs when he was washed against the rocks.